She Could Be The One
by FortunaBella
Summary: Troy & Gabriella have been dating for two years, but is Troy ready to go the distance and pop the question? Follow the small acts and fleeting moments leading up to the biggest decision of Troy's life. Collection of One-Shots.
1. She Could Pull Off A Surprise

_**A/N: My first attempt at a story. This is not going to be a super long, ten chapters is what I have planned out right now, i'm just kind of testing the waters. Any input would be much appreciated. Hope you enjoy!**_

_**Inspired by the article 'How I Knew I Wanted To Marry Her'**_

**Chapter One**  
**She Could Pull Off A Surprise**

"Ella our reservations are in thirty minutes, if we're not there on time they will give away our table." Troy Bolton paced the living room waiting for his girlfriend of two years Gabriella Montez to finally make her way out of the bedroom.

"I'm almost ready Troy, I just want to look perfect, tonight is important."

Troy couldn't help but smile, tonight was their two year anniversary.

He, Troy Bolton, had been dating the same girl exclusively for two years; nobody ever thought they would see the day when Troy would finally begin to settle down. He had never dated a girl during high school or college for more then a month and even then the relationships never developed outside of the bedroom, but that was before Gabriella came into his life.

The two had met at a mutual friend's barbeque when they both reached for the last can of soda in the cooler. Gabriella walked away with the drink, but Troy walked away with her number. Their first date followed shortly after; dinner at Troy's favorite restaurant, which happened to be a sports grill, while the Lakers' game was on. While most girls would have complained it wasn't fancy enough, Gabriella immediately began gushing about how good their barbeque chicken pizza was. It wasn't though he needed more convincing but Troy knew she was something special when the two had a lively discussion about basketball during their meal.

"_Now you see you're biased because you were born and raised in California."_

_Gabriella laughed, "geography has nothing to do with it Troy, Magic Johnson was an unbelievable player, not to mention the fact I got to meet him after a game and he was super sweet to me, he even signed my jersey, plus his stats aren't too shabby either, 5 NBA championships, 3 MVP awards, and the all- time leader in assists, he's pretty remarkable." Troy grinned; damn this girl knew her stuff._

"_Well you see I'm more of a Bulls man myself."_

"_Hm, and let me guess who your favorite player is…"_

_Now it was Troy's turn to chuckle, "Yes it's Michael Jordan but can you blame me? Man I wish I got to see him play in real life. I can't even imagine the energy in that arena. I had his jersey when I was a kid and I would run around my basketball court in the backyard, pretending I could fly like him."_

"_You know 'His Airness' couldn't actually fly right?" Gabriella asked cheekily, making Troy roll his eyes._

"_Yes Gabriella but that's not the point, there was something magical about him when I was a kid, kind of like Magic Johnson for you, only I don't have some awesome story about watching him play, let alone meeting him and getting an autograph."_

_Their conversation was interrupted as their food arrived at the table._

"Earth to Troy." Troy shook his head lightly as Gabriella's voice broke into his thoughts. "Welcome back space cadet, you ready to go?"

Troy nodded and stepped back so he could take in the whole picture that was his girlfriend. Her long hair was left in loose curls that pooled down her back. Her dark blue dress hugged every curve and he was seriously considering blowing off dinner and dragging her back to the bedroom.

"You look gorgeous Ella," Troy whispered softly causing Gabriella to blush slightly. "Thanks Troy, you're looking pretty handsome yourself." Troy did a quick spin, opening his jacket a bit making Gabriella giggle, "I did spend a whole minute on my hair, I was hoping you'd notice, like you said, tonight is special." Their lips met in a quick peck then Gabriella turned and grabbed her clutch off the back of the couch.

"Alright let's get going, I didn't have lunch today and I am starving."

Troy couldn't help but smile. That was his girl.

* * *

Dinner was delicious, but Troy was much more interested in Gabriella who seemed a bit more animated tonight then usual.

"You okay babe?" he asked, taking her free hand that laid across the table in his, as the waiter came over to clear their plates.

"I'm fine Troy, why do you ask?" He shrugged lacing their fingers together, "I don't know you just seem kind of antsy about something, you're practically bouncing out of your seat."

Gabriella smiled, "you know me too well." "Is that really a bad thing?" Gabriella shook her head and bit her lip slightly, "no, it's one of the things I love most about you." With that Troy leaned across the table to place his lips on hers, "I love you too," he whispered as they pulled apart. A slight cough caused the two to sit back in their seats as they turned to face the waiter. "Would you still like your dessert to go?" Troy went to answer but Gabriella spoke before he could. "Yes please and the check." The waiter nodded and left to fulfill the requests.

"To go? Gabriella Montez wants to wait to eat her dessert? I never thought I would see the day."

"I just want to get back to our apartment, I have a surprise for you and I can't wait any longer to see your face when you open it."

Troy smiled, "baby I will love anything you get me, especially if it's my favorite kind of surprise." He wagged his eyebrows in a teasing manner making Gabriella glare slightly before breaking out into a smirk. "Keep up the comments like that and you won't be getting one of those surprises for a long time."

Troy leaned in once again, placing his lips on hers, "yeah we'll see about that Montez."

* * *

"Okay go sit on the couch and wait while I go and get your gift." Gabriella said, practically dragging Troy into their apartment.

"Whoa Ella slow down, I have to go get your present too." Gabriella pouted slightly, making Troy chuckle holding his hands up in defeat, "alright, alright, I'll sit down." Gabriella smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss.

"You're going to love it, I'll be right back." Troy watched her as she basically skipped to their spare bedroom making him smile at her adorableness. He took a seat on the couch just as she reentered the room holding the gift, an eager yet apprehensive smile covering her face.

"Happy anniversary baby," she said, handing him the gift. It was definitely something in a frame; that he could tell immediately. As he began to pull away the paper his breath hitched in his throat. It was a photograph, but just not any photograph; there was Michael Jordan, in the midst of a gravity defying dunk, his signature in silver sharpie glittering slightly in the light.

They sat in silence for a moment, Troy taking the gift and the meaning behind it all in. He couldn't believe the consideration that Gabriella had put into this gift for him, his mind going back to their first date for the second time that evening.

"Do you like it?" Gabriella questioned timidly, his silence making her slightly anxious. "I know you didn't meet him or anything but there's his autograph and he's "'flying.'"

"I can't believe you remember that," he whispered, Gabriella breathing a slight sigh of relief at his voice.

"I remember everything you tell me Troy. I actually wanted to get this for you last year, but I couldn't afford it." She said as she watched him further examine the picture.

"I can't believe this… Gabriella… you're just… I can't even find the right words," he looked over at his girlfriend who was biting her lip and looking down at her lap, "This is amazing, thank you."

Gabriella finally made eye contact with him and smiled, "I'm glad you like it." Troy leaned over, placing his hand on the back of her neck and pulling her in for a deep kiss that conveyed more then his words ever could.

"I love you so much," he whispered, fearing speaking louder then that would spoil the intimate moment they were sharing.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

"As much as I love your present," Troy said, as he carefully placed the frame on the table, "I don't think we'll have much use for it for what I have in mind." Gabriella giggled as she stood up, "hey what about my gift?" she jokingly asked, placing her hand on her hip. Troy stood up, sweeping Gabriella off her feet carrying her back into their bedroom. "We'll get to it I promise but I still haven't properly thanked you for my gift." Smiling, Gabriella kissed Troy fervently, "hmm, no you haven't Bolton, you should rectify that immediately."

Troy smirked, "oh believe me baby, i'm planning on it."

_**A/N: Thoughts? Suggestions? I actually would like to have a beta reader for this story, if you are interested let me know. Thanks for reading!**_


	2. She Never Guilt Tripped Me

**A/N: So here's chapter 2, its a little longer then the first one. Hope you enjoy!**

**__****Inspired by the article 'How I Knew I Wanted To Marry Her'**

**Chapter Two**  
**She Never Guilt-Tripped Me**

"Oh come on man, you are so whipped, we haven't had a guys weekend in like forever," Troy smirked at the whining tone his best friend was using.

"Look Chad I told you, Ella has Friday off too, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I left her alone for a long weekend to go to Vegas with my friends?"

Chad groaned, "Can you at least ask her if you can go? God I feel like we're back in elementary school when you had to ask your mom for permission to do stuff. I gotta ask does Gabriella put you in time-out when you're a naughty boy?"

"No she spanks me, and I kind of like it." Chad groaned loudly again through the phone, "okay dude, I SO did not need that image in my head to carry around all day. Will you please just ask her?"

"There's no point in asking her, she won't want me to go." "I won't want you to go where?" Troy turned at the sound of Gabriella's voice as she entered the apartment carrying grocery bags.

"Look Chad, Ella just got home with groceries so I have to go, I'll talk to you later." Chad made the sound of a whip cracking just as Troy hung up the phone.

"Here babe let me help," He grabbed the biggest bag that Gabriella was carefully balancing between two smaller ones. "Thanks Troy, now where won't I let you go?"

Troy busied himself with putting away the groceries trying to avoid the conversation and impending guilt-trip of why he should stay; he really wished Gabriella had walked in during the spanking comment instead.

"It's nothing Ella, Chad just invited me to go to Vegas over the long weekend with the guys, no big deal." Gabriella put the milk in the fridge and turned to face her boyfriend, "well do you want to go?" He shrugged, "maybe, it might be fun, Jason is coming down from Seattle and meeting them there, and I can't even remember the last time I saw him." Gabriella nodded, "it doesn't matter though because we both have the long weekend off and we're going to spend it together."

"I think you should go."

"And I told Chad that long weekends are rare and we… what did you say?" Gabriella smiled and walked over to Troy wrapping her arms around his neck. "I said I think you should go, you haven't hung out with just the guys in what two years?" Troy smirked, "two years and eleven days." Gabriella couldn't help but beam at his correction.

"I think it will be good for you, you've been working so hard lately and a weekend away with the guys would be fun, but not too much fun though okay?" Troy chuckled and leaned down to kiss her, "have I told you how unbelievably awesome you are?" he asked, making Gabriella stroke her chin in thought, "hmm, not recently but it's always nice to hear."

Troy smiled and leaned down to kiss her again. "I love you," Gabriella's face softened at his sweet tone, "I love hearing that even more," she whispered kissing him again, "and I love you too."

* * *

Gabriella sat at the foot of the bed watching Troy as he packed his stuff. "So what do you have planned for this weekend while I'm gone?" she heard him call from the bathroom. "Oh you know catch up on my reading, Sharpay has an extra ticket for the Backstreet Boys concert on Saturday night, so I think I might go to that."

Troy laughed as he reentered the room holding his toiletry bag. "The Backstreet Boys concert? Seriously?" Gabriella threw a pair of rolled up socks at his head. "I happen to like them and I know you do too, I know you have them on your iPod." Troy scratched the back of his neck, "I, uh, put those on there for you." "Really? Which one of your girlfriends is Miley Cyrus for?" "One song, I have one song of hers and you won't let me hear the end of it."

Gabriella stood up on the bed, grabbing Troy's brush from his bag and using it as a microphone, "So I put my hands up, they're playing my song, the butterflies fly away, come on Troy you know the…" she didn't have a chance to finish as Troy tackled her to bed, both of them laughing.

"Oh Montez what am I going to do with you?" "Oh you know you're going to miss me while you're gone." He kissed her nose then made his way down to her lips. "I am definitely going to miss you, even if you do make fun of my music." Gabriella managed to roll out from underneath Troy and made her way to the door, "it's not my fault there's so much to make fun of," she then walked out of the room, but not before popping her head in one last time, "it's a party in the USA."

She then ran and squealed as Troy jumped off the bed and came after her, laughter filling the entire apartment.

* * *

Troy sat on the bed of his hotel room, similar to how Gabriella had a few days before. It was a little after one in the morning and he was exhausted.

After having drunken himself into an alcohol induced coma the night before he decided to hit the sack early but was avoiding the inevitable of having to sleep alone, he had grown quite fond of Gabriella's warm body curled up to his during the night. He was seriously considering calling her just to talk until he drifted off to sleep but she had gone to the concert that night and then was spending the night with her friends at Sharpay's place.

At the beginning of their physical relationship Troy had avoided spending the night, making excuses about work, this stalling tatic had not been lost on Gabriella but she went along with it knowing Troy's reservations about a serious relationship but also with the assurance he wasn't sleeping with anybody else. He could still remember their first entire night they had spent together.

_Troy lay on his back, the sound of Gabriella attempting to catch her breath was the only sound that filled the room. He turned on his side to see her already looking at him, a content smile on her lips. "That was amazing," she whispered, "It always is with you," Troy agreed leaning over to kiss her. Gabriella rolled over and looked at the clock. "I better get going, but I'll call you tomorrow." _

_Tomorrow_

_Never had anything ever sounded so far away in his life. He didn't want her to go. _

"_Wait," he said, gently grabbing her wrist as she started to make her way out of his bed, "stay." Gabriella looked at him in shock, "what?" _

"_I said stay Gabriella, I want you to stay here tonight." _

_She bit her lip and examined his face, as if she was trying to determine whether his offer was genuine or he was just hoping for another round, but the validity of his request shone in his eyes and told her otherwise._

_She cautiously made her way back into the bed, Troy reaching down and pulling the covers up and around them, making sure they were both covered in their entirety. "Good night," he said as she laid her head on the pillow next to him. "Night Troy" and the two slowly drifted off to sleep._

_Troy was the first to wake the next morning, the first thing he was aware of was something warm sitting in the middle of his chest, as he further approached consciousness he realized it was a hand. He opened his eyes to see Gabriella next to him still asleep. _

_She was lying on her stomach, his sheets tangled loosely around her and her arm was draped lazily across his chest. __The feeling of weirdness or awkwardness that he had been expecting never came, instead he felt very content and happy. _

_He could easily get used to her being the first thing he saw everyday. _

_He wasn't sure if this same satisfied feeling would fill Gabriella so he found himself thinking of ways to get her stay a little longer after she woke up. __Slowly easing her hand off his chest he made his way out of the bed, picking up the boxer briefs he had been wearing the previous night and made his way into the kitchen._

_Being a single man living alone his kitchen didn't exactly scream 'varied balanced meals', but he did have a few breakfast type items including juice, bagels, and fruit loops. He got everything out that he needed and placed the items on the tray. __He did have a fleeting thought that Chad would be mocking him mercilessly if he could see him now, but he quickly shook the thought and instead thought of Gabriella. He was becoming rather attached to her and hoped that she was feeling the same._

_Meanwhile Gabriella began stirring in the bedroom, she was immediately aware of the fact that she was not in her own room but was quickly calmed when she realized she was in Troy's. She reached her arm out in search of the warm body next to hers but felt nothing. The sheets were still a bit warm so he hadn't been out of bed for long. She didn't have long to contemplate where he might be as he entered the room carrying a tray._

"_Hey, you're awake," he said, smiling down at her._

_He placed the tray on his bedside table and leaned down to connect their lips, an action which she quickly reciprocated. Okay, so far so good, nothing awkward. "I brought breakfast, you hungry?" Gabriella nodded, wrapping the sheets around her a little tighter as she sat up. Troy took notice and reached down on the floor, grabbing one of his shirts and tossing it to her, she smiled gratefully and pulled her it over head, taking a moment to note that it smelled like him._

"_What's on the menu?" she asked, scooting a little closer to Troy who had returned to his spot in the bed. "Let's see orange juice, no pulp, and plain bagels with a little cream cheese and of course my specialty fruit loops." Gabriella smiled, "those just happen to be my favorite." Troy smiled as well as he passed a bowl over to Gabriella who took it appreciatively and began to eat. "Mmm, you know, these may be the best fruit loops I have ever had." _

_Troy laughed and leaned over to kiss her, "I'll make sure I have them available for next time."_

After that morning, nights were rarely spent apart, except for this weekend of course, which to Troy felt like it would never end.

Sure he had fun, catching up with his friends, gambling a little, and nearly passing out doing the rides at the Stratosphere, but he missed Gabriella.

Everything they did he couldn't help but have thoughts like how Gabriella would have loved the restaurant they went to or how loud Gabriella would have screamed on the rollercoaster. Chad and Zeke were no help, ragging on him every chance they got, Jason on the other hand got it, he confided in Troy that he was planning on proposing to his girlfriend Sarah shortly after they got home, and he too missed her like crazy.

Maybe this was a sign; maybe Troy was finally ready to settle down.

* * *

"Baby I'm home," Troy called into the apartment, tossing his bag carelessly into the entryway as he sought out his girlfriend. He didn't have to search long as she came bursting out of the kitchen, a big smile adorning her face. She ran into his awaiting arms, he spun around a couple of times before placing her back on the ground.

"I missed you," she said, running her hand down the side of his face, Troy leaning into the loving act that he had missed so much over the last few days. "You don't even know how much I missed you, I thought of you the whole time."

Gabriella scrunched her eyebrows slightly, "but you had fun didn't you? That's what the whole point of this trip was." He nodded, "I had a blast, it was so good to catch up with the guys, oh by the way Jason is proposing to Sarah." Gabriella gasped happily at this bit of information, "he is? They are so adorable together."

Troy nodded, agreeing with her, "the trip was great, but nothing beats coming home to you." Gabriella leaned up and kissed him, "well nothing beats having you come home to me either."

**A/N: So what did you think? Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Anything is welcome! Thanks for reading!**


	3. She Played Nurse

**A/N: Thank you so much for the response so far! Sorry for the time in between posts, life has been pretty hectic lately. Hopefully I will get on a more solid posting schedule as time goes on. This chapter is more from Gabriella's point of view. Hope you all like it.**

**Chapter Three  
****She Played Nurse**

There were three reasons that Troy loved living with Gabriella.

One, he loved being able to come home to her every single night and having her there every single morning. Two, she was somewhat OCD about things being clean, not that he was a slob or anything but it was definitely nice having everything in order all the time. Third, she was a much better cook then him and was more then willing to be in charge of the meals as long as he picked up the groceries.

So when Gabriella called Troy to let him know she was going to be late getting home he knew that translated to 'you're on your own for dinner.' Hence the reason he was now searching through the refrigerator looking for something to eat.

"There has to be something in here," he said to himself as he pushed a jar of pickles to the side and searched to the back of the shelf. After determining that shelf was a lost cause he moved to the next one.

A white Styrofoam tray caught his eye; he pulled it out to see what was inside and found some chicken that Gabriella had ordered during one of their nights out. He determined that if she hadn't eaten it by now she probably wasn't going to and if she got upset he would pull out the 'but you know I can't cook' card.

After removing his chicken from the microwave he took his plate and walked over to the couch and turned on the basketball game and began to eat.

* * *

Gabriella walked in the door, it was a little past ten in the evening and she was exhausted, she quickly learned she was not the only one as she saw Troy asleep on the couch. She couldn't help but smile a little as she heard his quiet snores.

Walking over she sat by his side and gently shook him awake. "Troy honey, let's go to bed." He slowly woke up and he smiled when his eyes focused on Gabriella, "hey when did you get home?" he asked, his voice still heavy with sleep. "I just walked in, how was your day?" "Eh it was fine, better now that you're home." Gabriella groaned lightly, "tell me about it, today felt like it would never end, all I want to do is go to bed and crash for the next 9 hours." Troy nodded and stood up, gently pulling Gabriella up to stand as well. "Alright, let's go to bed."

Gabriella rolled over in bed, reaching her arm out to wrap around Troy's torso, but was met with nothing but sheets and pillows. Sitting up she looked around the room trying to find where he went and heard a sound coming from the bathroom, pulling the blankets off she padded into the bathroom.

She was met with the sight of Troy leaning over the toilet, obviously having just finished being sick. "Troy? What's wrong?" He shook his head gently, "I don't know, I just woke up and felt like I was going to throw up and here I am." Gabriella ran her hand up and down his back gently as she sat next to him.

"Did I wake you?" he asked concerned. "No, I woke up and realized you were gone, how long have you been in here?"

He shrugged, "I have no idea, you don't have to stay, I don't really want you to see me like this." "Hey this is a part of the whole living together thing. What kind of girlfriend would I be if I bailed on the bad times?" She stood up from her place on the floor and grabbed a washcloth off the counter and ran it under cold water, she then returned to her spot and started gently rubbing Troy's face, she noticed for the first time how truly pale he was.

"Was it something you ate? What did you have for dinner?" Troy instantly felt sick again at the thought of food. "That um, chicken stuff you got when we went out to dinner a few days ago." Gabriella's eyes widened, "Troy that was over a week and a half ago, there is no way that chicken was good anymore, you probably have food poisoning." And with that Troy leaned over the toilet again. "And this is why you do the cooking," he managed to choke out as Gabriella continued to rub his back.

* * *

Troy woke up the next morning, his head was slightly spinning and his stomach still lurched angrily. He reached down for the bucket Gabriella had placed by the bed, just in case, as she entered the room holding a glass of water.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He just shook his head slightly causing Gabriella to give him a sympathetic look.

"I need you to try and drink this, I did some research this morning and it's important to stay hydrated since you were sick all night." Troy nodded as he took the glass from her, "small sips only," she instructed as he brought the glass to his lips. After a few sips he placed the glass on the bedside table and laid back against the headboard.

"I called your boss and let him know you wouldn't be in today and that I'd email him tonight and let him know how you are doing."

Troy attempted to smile, "thanks, why aren't you at work?" "I took a personal day so that I could be here with you." He smiled gratefully at her.

"So if you can keep that water down we'll start with some easy solid foods. I ran to the store this morning and got some rice and stuff. Oh your mom called this morning, she wanted to talk to you about your dad's birthday but I told her you were sick and she sends her love. And let's see what else," Gabriella looked down to see that Troy was asleep, still in his sitting position, she maneuvered herself across the bed and helped him lay down; he stirred a little but fell right back asleep.

She walked to the door taking one last look at him and smiling before walking into the living room.

Sitting down on the couch she picked up her laptop she had left sitting on the coffee table. She minimized the window that listed the various things you could do to help someone with food poisoning.

As the window disappeared she was able to see her desktop's wallpaper and she couldn't help but smile. It was a picture of her and Troy that had been taken a year or so before in front of the Matterhorn.

She had begged Troy for months to go to Disneyland with her, he had never been and Gabriella insisted that he would love it.

"_You know we could still go home," Troy said as Gabriella pulled him towards the front gates. "There is no way we are going home, we're here and you're going to love it, I promise. This is my most favorite place in the entire world." Troy attempted to smile but rubbed the back of his neck nervously. _

_He had a secret, something that no one knew apart from his mother; he was terrified of rollercoaster's. It didn't matter how big or how small, he was petrified of them. _

_When Gabriella had first brought up the idea of going to a theme park he flat out refused, he didn't want his new girlfriend to think he was some kind of wimp. "So I have a routine, first we hit up Fantasyland then we go down to Frontierland and wrap our way back up." "Okay that means absolutely nothing to me," Troy said making Gabriella smile at him, "I forgot that you're a Disneyland virgin, how is that even possible?" he shrugged, "my parents were more into camping and stuff and as an adult I just never made it up here." "I promise you'll love it you'll feel like a kid again."_

_They had been in the park for about an hour, Troy was enjoying himself but that was due to the fact that most daring ride they had been on so far was the Teacups. "So you up for The Matterhorn?" Gabriella asked, nodding her head towards the large mountain as a bobsled whipped by and people's screams filled the air. _

"_Um how about we go on the Pinocchio ride again, and this time don't close your eyes, it's not that scary." Gabriella rolled her eyes," we've been on all those rides; I want to go on the Matterhorn, please?" She stuck her lower lip out slightly making Troy smile, "not the lip, you know what that does to me," adding the puppy dog eyes, Gabriella began to walk backwards towards the line entrance pulling him with her. _

_He took one last look up at the mountain and then down to Gabriella who still had her lip set in a pout formation. "Okay, alright, let's go," he said, determined for her to have fun. _

_As they stood in line he felt himself become more nervous but also somewhat ridiculous as he saw kids no older then 8 who were so excited to go on the ride. "You okay?" Gabriella asked, feeling his arm tense slightly. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine? Why" She shrugged, "I don't know you're just being really quiet, you're super tense and it seems like you've gotten a little pale." _

_She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair. "Are you scared?" Troy scoffed and rolled his eyes, "me scared? This is a little kid's ride Gabriella." _

"_You're scared of Roller Coasters aren't you? That would totally explain why you were so apprehensive to come here." _

_Troy groaned, "Alright go ahead and make fun of me." Gabriella scrunched up her eyebrows, "why would I make fun of you?" He shrugged, "it's kind of embarrassing isn't it, a 27 year old guy afraid of roller coasters."_

_Gabriella rubbed her hand up and down his arm, "it's not embarrassing and I'm not going to make fun of you. You didn't make fun of me when I told you about my fear of fish." Troy smiled a little, "so you don't think I'm a wuss?" Gabriella shook her head, standing up on her toes to peck him on the lips, "not in the least. If you want to you can wait at the exit for me." _

_Troy looked to see that he and Gabriella were next in line, then he looked at her. "I think it's time that I face my fear, as long as you sit with me." Gabriella's smile grew on her face, "seriously? You'll go with me? I promise you won't regret it; this is a really good roller coaster to start on." _

_The two of them entered the bobsled, Troy took his place in the back and Gabriella sat in between his legs, both of them buckling up. "How are you doing?" she asked, squeezing his leg gently. "As long as you're here I'll be fine."_

She had created a monster that day; he dragged her on every roller coaster in both theme parks at least three times. Maybe after he got better she would surprise him and they could take a long weekend and drive down to Anaheim.

"Hey," Gabriella turned to see Troy enter the room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Hey are you feeling better?" she asked, he nodded and came to sit next to her, kissing the side of her head lovingly. "What are you doing?" "Just thinking about you," he smirked a little, "glad to see I'm on your mind."

His gaze fell down to Gabriella's laptop, "that was a fun day," he said.

"Even though I dragged you there?" He nodded, "I know you always have my best interests at heart. Thanks for taking care of me today, it meant a lot to me." Gabriella smiled at him, "you would have done the same for me, but can you just promise me something?" He nodded, "anything baby," he said, kissing the side of her head again.

"Next time I have to work late will you just order a pizza?"

**A/N: So what did you think? I actually have an idea for another story that's been floating around for awhile. I am going to put the summary in my profile within the next couple of days so be on the outlook for that as well as a new chapter, i'm aiming for Sunday. Let me know what you thought about this chapter. I would love some constructive criticism because I don't feel this chapter was my best.**


	4. She Let Loose

**A/N: So I got this chapter done a little earlier then I expected and decided to post. Hope you don't mind :) Enjoy!**

**Chapter Four  
****She Let Loose**

"Well this place is… charming." Gabriella commented as she gripped her boyfriends hand a little tighter.

Troy looked around the bar that the two had just entered, "well it is Chad's birthday and he got to pick where he wanted to have dinner and for some unknown reason he picked here."

This place was the epitome of the expression 'dive bar.' The lights were down low, giving the brick walls a dark grimy look. There was a makeshift stage set up at the front of the room where two extremely wasted people were using each other for support as they warbled through a poor rendition of a Van Halen song.

"Troy! Gabster! Over here," Chad waved his arms up in the air, a bottle of beer clutched in his hand. Troy placed his hand on Gabriella's lower back and guided her over to the table.

He stood up to hug both of them and then motioned for them to sit down.

"All of the restaurants in town and you pick this place," Troy said, placing his hand on Gabriella's knee under the table, which she quickly covered with her own.

"I wanted to party and you can't do that better then at Joe's. Besides I thought you and Gabs would be into the whole karaoke thing."

Gabriella shook her head, "Oh no, I don't do karaoke."

Everyone at the table chuckled a little and Gabriella's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Why are you all laughing?" she asked, Troy squeezed her knee comfortingly

"Well Chad was just telling us how you're super nice and all but you're just not very adventurous," a blonde girl piped up from the end of the table.

"Chad," Troy started, glaring at his friend slightly.

"No Troy its fine," Gabriella said, grabbing his hand, not wanting Troy to get upset with his best friend.

Chad laughed a little, "Oh Gabs, you know I love you, you're just kind of a wet blanket sometimes. Remember when she wouldn't go skinny dipping at Zeke's birthday?"

"Chad, you were the only one who went skinny dipping at that party and no one wanted to see that, now please leave my girlfriend alone and let's just have fun okay?" Troy said making sure the whole table got the message.

Chad shrugged, "yeah absolutely, it's my birthday and I want it to be the best one ever."

As people started chattering around the table Gabriella scooted closer to Troy, "you don't think I'm a wet blanket do you," she asked.

Troy shook his head, "no way, you're just a little reserved and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's just who you are, and in case you haven't noticed, i'm kind of crazy about you."

She squeezed his knee and kissed his cheek, "I'm kind of crazy about you too."

Gabriella's shyness became apparent after their first few dates. She didn't go out of her way to be noticed and was perfectly happy with blending into the background. In private however, he got to see a whole other side of Gabriella.

_It was always awkward bringing someone back to your apartment for the first time and this was no exception. Troy unlocked the door and laced hands with Gabriella as he opened the door and led her in._

"_So this is it," he said, as Gabriella took in her surroundings. She was pleasantly surprised, it wasn't completely immaculate, but he wasn't a slob either. _

_His living room was that of a typical guy, there was a large brown leather couch against one wall and a giant entertainment center against the other. He had obviously invested more money into his entertainment system then the décor._

"_So," Troy said as he uncomfortably shifted from foot to foot making Gabriella turn to face him._

"_It's nice, cleaner then I expected," she said making Troy smile._

"_Do you really think I would have invited you back here if my apartment was dirty?" Gabriella shook her head and walked over to sit on the couch._

_She noticed a Wii game sitting on the coffee table and leaned over to pick it up. "Mario Kart? I used to love this game when I was little. Now I don't want to brag or anything but Yoshi and I were an unbeatable combination."_

_Troy scoffed, "whatever, Donkey Kong is the best and i'm thinking I would most likely beat you."_

_Gabriella raised her eyebrows and smirked, "you're on."_

_Troy smiled as he walked over to turn on the game and grab a couple of remotes._

"_And that is the game," Gabriella tossed her remote on the couch next to her, "and would you look at that, Yoshi wins, again."_

_Troy rolled his eyes, "I would have won if it weren't for that stinking Luigi," he sneered slightly as he said the name, making Gabriella laugh._

"_Oh don't blame Luigi, just admit I'm a better racer then you."_

_Troy shook his head, "I don't think so, I'm just having an off night, trust me on a good night I would squash you."_

"_Yeah sure," Gabriella stood up and turned to face Troy, "the only way you could squash me is if you sat on me."_

_Without missing a beat Troy grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto the couch and maneuvered his weight on top of her, causing Gabriella to erupt in laughter._

"_Troy get off me," she managed out in between her giggles._

_Troy shook his head, unable to keep the smile off this face, "Hm, I don't think so, not when you say it like that; you have to say the magic words."_

"_Please?" she said as sweetly as she could possibly manage._

"_Nope, you know what I want to hear and I'm not getting off you until I hear it," Gabriella squirmed under Troy, not really putting her full effort into escaping._

"_Okay fine. Troy Bolton you are a much better racer then me."_

"_And?" he asked._

_Gabriella smiled, "and you're really hot."_

_Troy stood up and helped her up, "see was that so hard? You want something to drink?" _

_As he turned to walk into the kitchen, Gabriella tackled him from behind, causing them both to tumble to the ground in a heap of laughter. _

"_Lesson number one," Gabriella whispered in his ear, "never turn your back on the enemy."_

"Alright everyone that was Jake with 'Livin' On A Prayer.' And now we have Gabriella M. singing 'Like A Virgin.'

"What?" Troy and Gabriella said at once, turning towards the stage.

Gabriella then quickly turned to glare at Chad who had a sheepish smile on his face. "What did you do?" she asked, pointing at him accusingly, he held his hands up in mock surrender.

"I just thought you might need a little push to get up there."

"Baby you don't have to go up there if you don't want to," Troy whispered.

Gabriella looked at Chad who looked like he was about to burst into laughter and then back at Troy. Without giving herself the chance to second guess herself she stood up, much to the shock of everyone at the table, especially Chad.

"El," Troy said grabbing onto her wrist but she gently shook him off and made her way up onto the stage, the MC handing her a microphone, "good luck," he said before making his way off the stage.

Gabriella turned to face the audience and it suddenly hit her that maybe this bar wasn't as small as she once thought. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath. She could do this, she had to do this; she was sick and tired of Chad referring to her as 'the wet blanket' she could have fun, and she was going to prove it, right here, right now.

As the opening notes started she seriously considered bolting, but an encouraging smile from Troy kept her rooted to her spot. She brought the microphone up to her lips and sang the opening lines

_I made it through the wilderness  
Somehow I made it through  
Didn't know how lost I was  
Until I found you_

She stood rigid in her spot, unwilling to move for fear of falling off the stage and furthering her embarrassment, but as she looked at the table she had been previously occupying she was met with stunned faces instead of hysterical laughter.

Maybe she could have some fun with this.

_I was beat incomplete  
I'd been had, I was sad and blue  
But you made me feel  
Yeah, you made me feel  
Shiny and new_

She slowly began moving around the stage, adding a bit of sass to her performance, much to the delight of the patrons in the bar who began to clap along to the song.

She locked eyes with Troy as she continued to sing.

_You're so fine and you're mine  
Make me strong, yeah you make me bold  
Oh your love thawed out  
Yeah, your love thawed out  
What was scared and cold_

Troy was completely mesmerized by the girl standing on stage.

He had never seen this side of Gabriella before, in public at least. She was extremely reserved and he knew that whenever Chad poked fun it hurt her more then she let on. But as he sat there watching Gabriella let go of her inhibitions, he couldn't help but have one thought.

Damn she's beautiful.

_Like a virgin, ooh, ooh  
Like a virgin  
Feels so good inside  
When you hold me, and your heart beats, and you love me_

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
Ooh, baby

_Like A Virgin_

As she finished the final notes she was met with thunderous applause and couldn't help the giggle that escaped from her mouth as she did a quick curtsey and handed the MC the mic back and returned to her seat.

"Alright thank you Gabriella that is definitely going to be a tough one to beat, let's see who's next."

Gabriella phased his voice out as she turned to face her companions who all still carried expressions of shock, apart from Troy who was beaming with pride.

"Oh did I forget to mention that I was in choir all through high school and even won an award for my solo senior year? My bad, I'll try to remember to divulge that information next time I'm being, what was it Chad, oh yeah, a 'wet blanket.'"

Chad merely looked at Gabriella, still unable to process what had just happened on the stage.

'That was amazing Gabriella," a girl Gabriella knew was named Kim cried causing everyone at the table to break out of their stupor.

"Uh wow Gabs, I think I owe you an apology, that was really great and uh, kind of hot," Chad said, causing Troy to glare at him.

"Thanks Chad, that means a lot coming from you."

* * *

An hour or so later Gabriella was snuggled up with Troy as they watched more and more of Chad's friends go up on stage and made a fool of themselves.

"Did I mention how great you looked up there?" Troy whispered in Gabriella's ear kissing the side of her head.

She turned her head and kissed his jaw gently, "yeah you have, but thanks."

He laced their hands together as a girl hit a particularly harsh note on some Britney Spears song, causing the two of them to cringe.

"I'm hoping I can get an encore of that song later tonight," Gabriella smiled as she felt him kiss down her neck.

"Hm, you know I think I may have a Madonna-esque outfit to go along with it, that is if you're interested?"

"Hell yeah I am." The two kissed and Chad gagged across the table making Troy roll his eyes. "So you're not mad at Chad for signing you up for karaoke like that?"

Gabriella shook her head, "no, it was fun. I just hope he has as much fun singing what I picked out for him."

Troy raised an eyebrow and smirked, "what did you do Miss Montez?"

As Gabriella opened her mouth to answer the MC returned to the stage, "alright everyone we've got another performance for you, Chad D. will be singing 'My Heart Will Go On'"

All eyes fell on Chad who immediately looked at Gabriella who shrugged innocently, "I thought you may have needed a little push to get up there."

"Come on Chad," Troy said, pulling Gabriella a little closer to him, "this is your moment. Come on everyone, Chad, Chad, Chad." Slowly the entire bar was chanting his name.

Chad stood up and groaned, "I will get my revenge Montez, mark my words."

Gabriella just smiled as she watched Chad begin to sing. "I like feisty Gabriella," Troy said, "You should bring her out more often."

She turned to look him in the eyes and smiled, "Maybe just for you, I don't think Chad is very happy with 'feisty Gabriella' right now."

**A/N: Okay I'm not going to lie but I probably listened to Glee's version of 'Like A Virgin' about fifteen times while writing this. I just want to thank everyone for their support of this story. Every time I get an email saying I have a new review or someone just added me to their alert list I just want to keep writing. Let me know what you thought of this chapter.**


	5. She Never Lost Her Cool

**A/N: So here's chapter five, we're at the half way point! Hope you enjoy this chapter! **

**PS: I don't know how the systems at airports work exactly so this is my interpretation, hope it doesn't bother anyone if it's not totally correct.**

Chapter Five  
She Never Lost Her Cool

"This is probably the best idea you have ever had," Troy said whispering in Gabriella's ear as they stood by the baggage claim at the Kahului _Airport._

Gabriella snuggled deeper into his embrace, "you said we could use a week away and where better then Hawaii?"

They watched the turnstile rotate a few more times until Troy leaned down and whispered again, "I can't wait to get you to the hotel; this is going to be the best week ever."

She giggled, "Troy, I want to do island stuff too, the last time I came here I was 12 and I was stuck in the hotel by myself for most of the time because my parents had to work."

Troy nodded, digging his nose into her hair to take in her sweet scent "anything my baby wants she gets, especially after planning the best trip ever."

* * *

A half hour later, the two still stood in the carousel that only had a few bags left on it, none of them being Troy or Gabriella's.

To say Troy was getting agitated would be an understatement.

"God how long does it take to get two bags out here?" he exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air attracting the attention of passerby's.

"Troy I'm sure there is a perfectly logical explanation, let's go talk to someone who works here and find out what's going on."

The two headed towards the counter area at the end of the baggage claim atrium.

"Excuse me," Troy said, gaining the attention of the two employees who were seated there.

"Aloha, welcome to Maui, how may we help you," one the employees said, a chipper smile on his face.

Troy didn't even attempt to return the smile, causing Gabriella to rub his arm soothingly.

"Well Steve, you can tell me where the hell my suitcases are. We've been standing here for forty minutes waiting."

"Troy," Gabriella reprimanded at his rude tone towards the worker but he merely shrugged her hand off his arm.

"I'm quite sorry sir; could you tell me the flight number?" Steve asked, his politeness wearing a little thin due to Troy's outburst.

"5434 from Los Angeles," Gabriella said before Troy could answer. Steve typed the number into the computer; Troy's foot began tapping more incessantly with each second that ticked by.

"According to the computer that plane has already been emptied and has begun loading up luggage for their flight to Mexico tonight, all suitcases are on the carousel."

Troy threw his hands up in the air, spinning away from the desk, "great, so much for our perfect week in paradise, they can't even manage to get our luggage here."

"Go sit over there," Gabriella said, pointing at a section of benches that sat in the corner.

Troy quickly spun back towards the counter to face her, shocked at her manner of voice "what?"

She grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the desk where the airport personnel had been listening with interest to their argument.

"Your little outbursts are not going to do us any good. All you are going to do is piss off the only people who are going to be able to help us and making this progress go ten times slower, so please go sit over there and let me handle it."

He opened his mouth to speak but Gabriella just pointed at the section again, her facial expression showed she was not kidding.

Groaning, he picked up his carry on bag and huffed over to the benches, sitting down and pouting like a child, causing Gabriella to roll her eyes at his behavior as she headed back to the desk.

"I just want to apologize for him; patience isn't exactly a virtue he possesses. How can I find out what happened to our luggage?" she asked, trying her hardest to not to look back at Troy who she knew would be sulking.

The female employee whose named tag said 'Cheryl' answered Gabriella's question, "if you have a copy of your bag's tags we can scan them and find out where they ended up. It was probably a simple mix up and they got put on the wrong plane, it happens more then we would like to admit."

Gabriella smiled and reached into her bag, pulling out the tags and handing them to her, "thank you so much."

Cheryl nodded over towards Troy, "and don't worry about him, he'll totally forgive you the minute you step on the beach in a bikini. Trust me, works with my boyfriend every time."

Gabriella laughed as the information on the computer was pulled up on the computer, "alright it looks like your bags ended up in Dallas on flight 5934, simple numerical error. We will put those on the next flight to Maui which leaves in a few hours so your bags should be here by tonight around 9."

Gabriella nodded, "that sounds great thank you so much, and will we be able to just pick them up here?"

Cheryl nodded, "we will have them brought straight here as soon as the plane lands," she then reached under the desk and pulled out two pieces of paper.

"Here are two vouchers for free round trip tickets to anywhere in the United States as an apology on behalf of the airline for the inconvenience."

Gabriella held up her hand, "that's not necessary."

She placed the vouchers in front of Gabriella, "go show your man one of the perks the perks of patience."

Gabriella smiled, picking up the vouchers and turning around to find Troy who sure enough, was still brooding in the corner.

"So?" he asked, standing up as Gabriella approached him.

She kept walking towards the doors causing him to grab his bag and jog slightly to keep up with her.

"Gabriella what is going on?"

She turned to face him, "I can not believe how you acted up there. It was not their fault that our bags ended up in Dallas, and you had no right to take it out on them."

"Dallas? How the hell did they end up in Dallas, does it look like we are in Dallas?"

Gabriella dropped her bag by her feet, causing Troy to jump slightly, "do not take that tone with me. Thanks to me keeping a level head I found out where our bags are, arranged to have them flown out here before the end of the day, and got us free ticket vouchers."

She shoved the vouchers into his chest as she picked up her bag and headed to the rental car office with Troy following close behind.

"Ella," he started but she held up her hand.

"I don't want to hear it, just go get our rental car, and please try not to yell at anyone."

He ran his hand through his hair but Gabriella simply walked over to waiting area and sat down and Troy headed over to the counter.

* * *

Hawaii was beautiful, but Troy wasn't able to focus on that.

Gabriella hadn't spoken to him since they got to the hotel. In fact ten minutes after they checked into the hotel Gabriella had left, yelling out that she had her cell phone if there was an emergency.

So there he was, sitting alone in a hotel room in Hawaii while his girlfriend was completely MIA.

Troy had been in trouble a few times because of his temper and lack of patience, in fact he had been suspended once in high school for punching a kid, and he couldn't even remember the reason why now.

That was something he had always admired about Gabriella, even when they first starting dating, was her ability to stay calm even during the most stressful of situations.

___Troy laced his hand with Gabriella's that was lying on the center console._

_"__I had a great time," he said turning to face her as they stopped at a red light._

___She smiled, biting her lip slightly, "I did too, I loved that restaurant, thanks for taking me, I never would have gone there on my own."_

___Troy returned the smile and brought her hand up to his lips to kiss it, "I can't think of better company."_

_"__I don't know, I think Chad would have enjoyed it," she said cheekily causing Troy to laugh._

_"__Yeah right, I can't take him anywhere without him causing a scene, he's such a child. The last time we hung out he refused to eat somewhere because they didn't have hamburgers on the menu. It was a Chinese place."_

___Gabriella laughed as the two continued driving, "well I want to return the favor, I know this great little ice cream place that you would love, that is if you aren't sick of me."_

_"__I don't think that is possible, where to milady?"_

___Gabriella couldn't help the blush that erupted on her face at his sweet comment. "Um, turn right here," Troy turned on his blinker and turned right, only having to quickly step on his breaks as the car in front of him stopped abruptly._

___Moments later a car smashed into the back of Troy causing him to whip around, ripping his hand out of Gabriella's in the process._

_"__Shit," he said, banging his fist on the steering wheel with his fist before getting out of the car, Gabriella following suit._

_"__I am so sorry," the teenaged boy said, gripping his hair as he got out his car._

___Troy didn't acknowledge the boy's apology as he went to examine the damage done to his car._

_"__This is just great, why weren't you looking where you were going? I was stopped for a good ten seconds before you plowed into me," Troy snarled, making the boy jump back a little._

_"__I'm sorry I just got distracted, I looked at my radio for one second and the next thing I know you're sitting right there. My dad has insurance, he'll totally take care of this, I'm so sorry."_

___Troy pinched the bridge of his nose, "yeah well that doesn't change the fact that my car is completely jacked up does it?"_

___The boy timidly shook his head, "no, I'm so sorry though I don't know what else to say."_

_"__You know just don't say anything, I have to call my insurance," he turned back to the car to see Gabriella with a completely shocked face._

_"__Hey you okay?" he asked having momentarily forgotten about Gabriella being in the car. She quickly shook her head no._

_"__How could you do that? He obviously feels bad and judging by his age this is probably his first accident and you were a complete ass to him."_

___Troy shook his head, pulling out his wallet to find this insurance's number, "Gabriella you don't understand, I need my car for my work, I don't have time for it to be in the shop."_

___Gabriella's mouth dropped slightly as his explanation, "so you'll get a rental car for a few days or heaven forbid I drive you around, it's not the end of the world. Now go apologize to him right now, he feels awful, is probably scared to half to death and you're just making it worse."_

___Troy exhaled, looking at the boy who was on his phone, shaking slightly and looked close to tears, he then looked at Gabriella again who glared pointedly at him._

___He made his way over to him as he finished up his conversation on the phone, "okay I'll see you in a few minutes, thanks dad." He looked up to see Troy and flinched a little._

___Troy felt absolutely horrible in that moment. Not only had he scared some kid but Gabriella had seen him do it, and that didn't exactly fit into the whole 'best foot forward' mantra he had been using with her._

_"__Look man," Troy started, "I owe you an apology. I overreacted, I've had a lot going on lately and I guess I just took it out on you. I know you didn't mean to hit me and I'm sorry I snapped at you like that."_

___He stuck his hand out and the boy took it timidly and shook it._

_"__Thanks man, I appreciate it."_

Troy's thoughts were broken has he heard the door of the room slam shut, he looked up to see Gabriella enter holding two shopping bags.

"Hey," he said, standing up from the bed.

Gabriella reached into one of the bags and pulled out a pair of swim trunks tossing them to him.

"Put these on, I don't want to stay cooped up in here all day," she then turned and walked into the bathroom, leaving Troy to change.

A few moments later she reentered the room in a black swimsuit cover up, her hair pulled up in a ponytail.

"Can we talk please? Or can I at least apologize?"

Gabriella folded her arms and turned to him, "for what?"

He shrugged, "for being an ass I guess. You were right; it wasn't their fault the luggage got lost. I've just had this picture of what this trip was going to be like and when this happened I got upset."

Gabriella demeanor instantly softened, "you can't treat people that way Troy, sometimes things don't work out how you plan but you have to stay calm and be patient."

Troy slowly made his way over to Gabriella and when she didn't back away he took that as an invitation to pull her into his arms.

"That's why I keep you around, to help keep me level headed when things get tough," he said, a charming grin on his face.

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him, "you know, I've been wondering why you've kept me around all this time. Now let's head down to the beach until our luggage gets here."

Troy nodded, scooping up a couple of towels that were sitting on the bed. The two laced hands as they exited the room and headed towards the elevator.

"Please tell me you have a bikini on under that. That will most definitely make the time until our luggage gets here go by quickly," he whispered as the elevator door opened and they entered.

"Patience babe," she answered back, placing a kiss on his jaw.

**A/N: I was going to post this last night but my sister had tickets to a special pre-screening of Charlie St. Cloud and I couldn't pass it up. :) So let me know what you all thought of this chapter and please forgive any spelling or gramatical errors, I edited really fast so that I could post. Thanks for the response so far, it means a lot to me that you guys enjoy what I write.**


	6. She Knew How to Fight

**A/N: So here's chapter six, hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter Six  
S****he Knew How to Fight**

It had been a long and stressful day at work for Gabriella.

She had been hoping to get out a little early but it seemed every time that she was headed for the door some emergency came up that only she could deal with. Now she was looking forward to a quiet night in, taking a warm bath, and maybe curling up on the couch and watching a movie.

As she opened the door, she was met with the sound of several men yelling.

Walking into the apartment she found her boyfriend, Chad, Zeke, and two of his other friends, Brett and Michael, sitting around the TV playing video games.

"Hey babe," Troy called, not looking away from the TV.

Chad waved from the chair where he sat eating a piece of pizza obviously waiting for his turn to play.

Gabriella rolled hey eyes, a motion that did not go unnoticed by Chad; she didn't even acknowledge Troy as she went back to their bedroom slamming the door.

"Dude," Chad said, looking at his friend who was still engrossed in the game.

"What Chad?" he asked slightly irritated as he jerked his remote to the left, slightly hitting Zeke.

Chad looked over his shoulder at the closed bedroom door, "are you that oblivious, your girlfriend is totally pissed off."

Troy looked over at him confused, "what? No she's not."

"So her walking in, rolling her eyes, storming out of the room, and slamming the bedroom door are normal occurrences in your house?"

Troy turned and looked at the door; he stood up tossing the remote into Chad's lap as he made his way back to the bedroom.

He entered the room, Gabriella pulling on one of his old t-shirts as her pajamas.

"Hey you okay?" he asked causing her to glare at him, making him take a slight step back.

"Do I look like I'm okay Troy?" she asked, pulling on a pair of shorts.

He shook his head, "apparently not, want to tell me what's up?"

She pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail, "I just wish you had let me know that you were having friends over tonight."

Troy scrunched up his eyebrows, "so I have to ask for permission to have friends over?"

"No I just wish you would have told me. I had an awful day at work and I was looking forward to coming home to some peace and quiet not a frat house."

"Look I'm sorry you had a bad day, but don't take it out on me. Last time I checked this was my house too and I should be allowed to have people over whenever I want. I don't have to ask for your okay."

She threw her hands up in the air, frustrated at what was resulting from her simple comment. "I never said that, all I said was I wish you had said 'hey Gabriella, I have some friends coming over tonight, just wanted to give you a heads up.'"

He shrugged, "alright say I had given you this 'heads ups' what would you have said? Because I'm guessing by how you're acting now you would have said something along the lines of how you just weren't in the mood for company, am I right?"

Gabriella went to answer but Troy stopped her, "you're always doing this you have to be in control of everything all the time."

"Are you serious? All I said was I wanted a heads up and you're freaking out about absolutely nothing. You know what you better get back to your friends you don't want to keep them waiting since you would obviously rather spend time with them." Gabriella cried, her voice starting to rise slightly.

Troy's mouth literally dropped open, "Gabriella we spend everyday together, we live together for crying out loud."

She shook her head, "not lately, ever since we got back from Hawaii I've barely seen you, with you having to go into the office early and me working late. I busted my ass to get home early tonight and you invite friends over."

"Troy, come on it's your turn," Troy turned at the sound of Zeke's voice coming from the living room. He turned back to face Gabriella who waved her hand telling him to go.

"We'll talk later okay?" he said, still a little tense from their conversation.

"Whatever just go," and knowing that was the end of their conversation for now he reentered the living room.

* * *

Troy was feeling restless, he hated when he and Gabriella had bad feelings between them.

"Hey guys look i'm beat, let's call it a night okay?" he said, causing his friends to look at him shocked.

"It's only 8," Brett said, motioning to the large clock on the wall.

"Come on guys, there's trouble in paradise, and you know Troy can't focus until he fixes things with Gabriella." Michael said teasingly.

The four of them chuckled, as they made their way of out the apartment, making a plan to head over to Zeke's to finish their guy's night 'properly.'

Troy stood in the empty living room for a moment, looking at the bedroom door that had not been opened since Gabriella had come home. He slowly started to make his way to the room opening the door slowly.

"The guys left," he said, seeing Gabriella lying on their bed reading her worn out copy of _Pride and Prejudice_.

"Great," she answered with no enthusiasm, not even looking up from her book.

"We need to talk about what happened earlier," he said, moving to sit at the foot of the bed.

Gabriella set her book down and looked at him, "you mean when you called me a control freak?"

"Did I ever say the words control freak? I don't think so." he asked, his voice getting slightly agitated.

Gabriella stood up from the bed, "Oh no? 'You have to be in control of everything all the time.' That is what you said to me Troy; I can read in between the lines."

She walked out the room, Troy jumping off the bed and following her.

"You know I didn't mean that," he said.

"Then why did you say it? You can't say things and then say you don't mean them. How am I ever going to know if you mean what you say if you never say what you mean?"

Troy sat there trying to figure out what she had just said, "It just slipped out Gabriella, and I was riled up because of the whole asking about having friends over."

"I NEVER SAID YOU HAD TO ASK," Gabriella cried, having finally broken. "We are going around in circles. I only said I wanted you to let me know."

"So you could be in control of the situation," he said, instantly regretting it the moment it came out of his mouth seeing her face.

"So did you mean that? Or did that just slip?"

He ran his fingers through his air, "Gabriella you're being ridiculous."

"I'm being ridiculous?" she said, completely aghast.

He shook his head, "I meant this. This situation is ridiculous, we are fighting over nothing."

"You said I was being ridiculous, and this is all your fault you know. You're the one being completely unreasonable and blowing this out of proportion."

"I'm being unreasonable? Really? I'll show you being unreasonable." With that he strode across the room, grabbing his keys and heading to the door.

Gabriella started coming after him, "where are you going? We can't leave this like this; we have to talk this through."

Troy held up his hand as he opened the door, "I need to get some fresh air and calm down a little before I say something I regret, I'll be back soon."

And with that he walked out the door, slightly slamming it behind him causing tears to stream down Gabriella's face.

She hated when they fought, they didn't do it very often and it was usually over very petty things but it still made her feel awful when everything was not right in their world.

Troy drove down the street. All of the windows were rolled down allowing a slight breeze to fill the vehicle. He had the latest Eminem CD on full blast as he drove, no destination in mind.

He hated fighting with Gabriella and luckily it didn't happen that frequently but when it did it was bad. It took Troy awhile to figure out why their arguments always got so heated over the smallest thing until Chad had a rare revelation.

Both Troy and Gabriella had grown up as only children, never having to compromise and always having things their way. They then went from living alone to living together. It had been tough at first, learning to adjust with one another, especially for Troy who had never lived with a girl before, apart from his mother obviously.

Apart from that they were both extremely opinionated and somewhat stubborn. A trait that Troy had come to admire in Gabriella more then loathe. He loved the fact that she was able to stand up for herself and knew what she believed in and fought for it.

It definitely took awhile to figure out that living with Gabriella would not be like living with his mom.

_"__TROY!"_

___Troy stopped putting butter on his toast at the sound of Gabriella's voice coming from their bathroom._

___Their bathroom._

___Troy and Gabriella had been living together for a little over a month and he had loved every second of it. Of course there had been a few bumps along the way, but nothing big._

___Gabriella came out of the bathroom holding up two sopping wet towels. "How many times have I asked you to hang up your towels when you're finished in the bathroom? They are not going to get dry and then you steal my towel and leave that on the floor."_

_"__I'm sorry El I forgot."_

___She shook her head, "you didn't forget, you're just being lazy or doing it to spite me, I'm not sure which one, but there is no way you forgot because I tell you everyday."_

_"__Why don't you just hang it up then? It's not a big deal," he said shrugging as he took a bite of his toast._

_"__Because I'm not your mother Troy and I'm not your roommate either, I am your girlfriend and this is my home as much as it is yours and I would appreciate it if you would just hang up your damn towels." _

___With that she stormed back into the bathroom and Troy couldn't help but smile a bit, she was always so cute when she got all worked up. _

___He reached over by the phone, grabbing the stack of post it's they kept there for phone messages and scribbled something on one and grabbed it, heading towards the bathroom._

_"__Babe," he said as he saw Gabriella putting on her mascara._

_"__What Troy?" she asked, twisting the lid back on and tossing it into her makeup bag._

___He stepped closer to her, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I'm sorry about the towel. I really just forgot, and I'm kind of lazy too, but I would never do it to spite you."_

___They made eye contact in the mirror, a small smile creeping up on Gabriella's face. "I know, I don't know why I said that. Will you please just try and remember? You know how much it drives me crazy."_

_"__Done," Troy said, reaching up to place the post it on the mirror, making Gabriella smile a bigger._

**___Hang up your towel  
____Don't be a lazy slob  
____Or you'll be stuck on the couch_**

* * *

Troy pulled back into the apartment complex, Coldplay now flowing through the speakers as Troy had finally calmed down.

He made his way up to their apartment, taking a deep breath before opening the door, running through what he wanted to say in his head.

As he opened the door he could hear Regina Spektor flowing throughout the apartment and he couldn't help but smile a little, both his and Gabriella's moods were so easily affected by music.

"Gabriella?" he called out hesitantly.

Gabriella came out of the bathroom holding a bottle of glass cleaner in the bright yellow gloves she had on her hands, she was a stress cleaner.

Stripping off the gloves and tossing them into the bathroom she made her way over to Troy, not making eye contact.

"Can I start?" she asked timidly, finally looking up into his eyes, the light pink hue still apparent despite the fact she had stopped crying an hour ago. "I had an awful day at work and I took it out on you and I apologize, you should be able to have friends over when you want, you are an adult and this is your home."

Troy shook his head quickly, "It's your home too; I should have let you know. It's just the guys have been riding me about how whipped I am and I don't know I freaked out and took it out on you and I'm sorry."

Gabriella then reached out and wrapped her arms around his torso hugging him tightly, Troy returned the hug, pulling her as close to him as possible.

"I don't think you're whipped, I just think you love me," she said, somewhat muffled against his chest.

Troy ran his hand up and down her back, "you're right because I do love you, very much, and I hate it when we argue."

"I love you too," she tipped her head up so she could look at him, resting her chin on his chest, "and it probably won't be the last time we fight but it won't be the last time we make up either. You just have to promise me something."

"Anything," he said leaning down to kiss her forehead, Gabriella closing her eyes at the loving action.

"Promise you'll never leave me when things get tough."

Troy shook his head again, placing his hand around the back of Gabriella's neck and pulling her up to meet his lips. "I will never leave you, you're stuck with me babe."

Gabriella smiled, "I don't want it any other way."

In one fluid motion Troy swept Gabriella off her feet and headed back to bedroom, both of them erupting in laughter.

"Now Ms. Montez I do believe you said something about making up?"

Gabriella pulled him back in for another deep kiss, "making up is the only reason I fight with you Mr. Bolton."

**_A/N: So there it is, what did you think? I know it was a really trivial topic that they fought about but I wanted them to make up quickly and who hasn't had a big blowup over something so small? Ha ha. Anyways thanks for your continued support of this story, it's been really fun to write and all the reviews are encouraging so keep them coming. Also I am going out of town next week, I leave on Tuesday and I am going to bring my laptop but internet service is really touch and go, so I will try to post once more before I leave but if I am not able to I apologize. I am going to try and have a summary for my maybe soon to be story up by the end of the day or tomorrow morning on my profile so be on the look for that and let me know if it is something you would be interested in reading. Thanks everyone!_**


	7. She Thought To Pick Up TakeOut

**A/N: I'm back! Here's chapter seven! Enjoy!**

**Chapter Seven**  
**She Thought To Pick Up Take-Out**

Troy sat at his desk with his head in his hands. His boss had just left him with a list of six people who Troy was supposed to let know that they were no longer employed with the company by the end of the day.

There were times when Troy loved being in a managerial position. He loved that he had more freedom when it came to his scheduling and the pay raise wasn't bad either, but having to fire people sucked.

He grabbed his phone out of desk and opened a message to send to Gabriella.

_Today sucks._

He set the phone on the desk and picked up the list. Most of these people were his friends and the thought of having to tell them they were fired made him sick to his stomach.

His phone vibrated loudly against his desk, he opened the new text message.

_Aw what happened? The internet down again?_

He couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his mouth.

_I wish. Robert just gave me a list of people to be terminated by the end of the work day._

Troy spun around in his office chair making a complete circle before facing forward. He really didn't want to do this. He went to reach for the list again before his phone began to buzz . He picked up the phone expecting to see another message but was instead met with Gabriella's smiling face.

"Hello?" he said, spinning in his chair once more.

_"Baby I'm sorry you have to do this. How are you feeling?"_

He scoffed, "I feel terrible. These people have families and I have to fire them."

He heard Gabriella exhale slowly on the other side of the phone.

_"I know, it's not your fault though, unfortunately it's a part of the job and your co-workers know that, I'm sure it's not going to change what they think of you as a person."_

Troy scoffed a little, "yeah I'm sure, they'll probably all hate me."

_"It would be impossible to hate you Troy. Look baby I have to go, a client just walked in, can I call you back later?"_

"Yeah, I might as well get this over with. Just promise you'll still love me after I destroy the lives of six people and their families."

_"It's not you Troy, it's your boss, he's just making you do his dirty work. He obviously doesn't have the guts to do it himself, and of course I'll still love you."_

"Thanks for calling babe, I'll see you at home okay? I love you."

_"I love you too Troy. Good luck."_

Troy placed his cell phone back into his desk drawer and read the list one last time.

Pushing the page button on the phone on his desk he heard the voice of his secretary Ashley ring out from the speaker.

"Yes Troy?"

"Could you have Teri Malone come to my office please?"

* * *

Two hours later and 4 terminations later Troy felt like the lowest creature on the face of the earth. The three men that had been fired did not take the news well at all obviously, they all yelled at Troy and blamed it on him as he tried to explain that due to the economic situations cutbacks had to be made. The woman cried, asking how she was supposed to support her children.

Troy took it all, every ounce of anger, sadness, and frustration anger. He felt heavy with emotion and all he wanted to do was sleep until next Wednesday.

He heard a knock on the door and his boss walked in.

"Hey Bolton, how's it going?"

Troy shrugged, "fine I guess. I've already talked to Malone, Sampson, Taylor, and Hansen. Donaldson and Harper were at lunch when I tried to reach them."

Robert nodded, "thanks for this Troy; this is certainly not my favorite part of the job."

Troy scoffed under his breath, "tell me about it," their conversation was interrupted by another knock on the door.

"Hey Troy, Mr. Martin. Ashley said you wanted to see me," Kelli Harper said popping her head in the door.

"I'll go and let you two talk, thanks again Troy."

He left the room leaving Troy and Kelli alone.

"Please sit down Kelli," Troy said motioning to the chair in front of his desk.

She smiled and sat down. She picked up the picture frame that was sitting on the edge of the desk, "I always forget how pretty Gabriella is. How is she by the way? Tell her I say hi, I can't remember the last time I saw her."

"She's good, thank you and I will." He said as she set the frame back on the desk, "look Kelli, I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, believe me. But unfortunately we are going to have to let you go."

"Let me go as in I'm fired?"

Troy ran his fingers through his hair. "Yes and I am so sorry. This decision has nothing to do with your performance it is merely a budgetary reason."

Kelli sat there for a moment staring off into space, Troy fidgeted in his seat, this was not a response he was used to.

"Well I guess that's that huh? Tell Mr. Martin thank you for the opportunity, I have really enjoyed working here."

She stood up to leave, Troy following suit.

"I really am sorry Kelli, I really wish this didn't have to happen."

She nodded, her eyes beginning to swim with tears, Troy felt like the biggest jerk in the entire world at that moment.

"No need to apologize, this is not your fault. It's nothing personal just business right?" a weak smile followed her question as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

Troy nodded, unable to say anything.

Kelli nodded at him and left the office closing the door quietly behind her.

* * *

Troy entered his and Gabriella's apartment that night around 8:00. As soon as he closed the door he leaned back against the hard surface, running his hand down his face.

It had been hell that day. After firing six people he had to deal with his other co-workers asking for every detail of what happened and he didn't want to live through the day again.

"Ella," he called out into the apartment, when he didn't receive an answer he groaned. All he wanted to do was curl up in bed with his girlfriend and sleep.

He walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge and pulled out a beer and made his way out to the living room. He pulled off his jacket and loosened his tie before plopping down onto the couch.

He hated feeling stressed, he was normally a laid back type of guy and it took a lot of pressure for it to affect him like this.

"Troy?" heard called out as the door to the apartment opened and closed.

"In here," he answered as he took another long drink.

Gabriella entered the room holding two white bags in her arms, "hey baby, how are you feeling?"

"Like scum, how about you?"

She smiled a little before setting the bags on the coffee table and joining him on the couch placing a kiss against his rigid jaw before beginning to rub his shoulders.

"It's all over now, you can just relax. Do you need anything?"

He shook his head, "no, relaxing sounds great though, I don't think I want to get off this couch for the rest of the night. He turned his head slightly to look at Gabriella and she smiled at him. "Come here," he whispered, turning fully so he could bring her lips to his. "That just made my day a million times better," he said as they pulled apart.

Gabriella leaned in to give him another kiss, "well hopefully this will help."

She leaned over, grabbing one of the bags she had been carrying when she walked in. She pulled out a Styrofoam box and handed it to him; he recognized the smell immediately but opened the box to confirm his suspicions.

"La Cabaña?" he asked, referring to his one his favorite Mexican places.

"Yeah. You had a tough day and I wanted to spend time with you and not have to worry about cooking. I know it probably won't make you feel 100% better but I thought it might help a little."

Troy leaned over to kiss her, "you didn't have to do that, it's not like there aren't good restaurants that are a whole lot closer."

"I know, but you love this place and you don't get it very often so I thought why not. So stop talking and just enjoy it, you deserve it. Besides you've done similar for me."

___Gabriella was down on her hands and knees looking underneath the entertainment center when Troy entered the room._

_"__Babe, what are you doing?" he asked slightly confused._

___Gabriella popped up at the sound of his voice and turned to look at him. "I can't find my copy of 'You've Got Mail' anywhere and I really want to watch it."_

___Troy shrugged, "just watch another movie."_

_"__I can't watch another movie; this is the only one I want to watch." She stood up and opened her movie cabinet to look one last time._

___Troy sat down on the couch to watch as she continued looking, "why don't you just go rent it or buy a new copy?"_

___Gabriella turned to him, "because if I rent it I just have to give it back in 2 days and it's an older movie so it's a little harder to find at the stores. You know I bet Taylor has it, she borrowed it from me when she was packing, I bet she took it with her."_

___She walked over to her phone and took it off the hook, dialing a number she knew by heart._

___Troy watched as his girlfriend spoke to one of her closest friends and couldn't help but smile at how animated she got whenever she talked to Taylor._

_"__Hey Tay the reason I was calling was I wondering if you have my copy of 'You've Got Mail."_

___It was silent for a moment before Gabriella's brow furrowed, "yeah it was mine, you borrowed it when you were packing. You sold it on eBay? What? Why would you do that? Well I'm sorry you didn't like it but it happens to be one of my favorites."_

___Troy stood up from his place on the couch to go over to rub her back in an effort to help relax her._

_"__No of course I know you didn't mean to. Yeah, thanks anyways. Bye Tay."_

___Gabriella hung up the phone. "Well I guess I will have to watch something else, any suggestions?" she said turning to face him but he shook his head._

_"__I actually just came to see if you needed anything from the store."_

___She shook her head, "no, drive safe though okay?"_

___He leaned down to kiss her and made his way out the door._

* * *

___A couple of hours later Gabriella was cleaning the kitchen, after she was unable to find anything she wanted to watch she decided to make herself useful and clean up the apartment._

___She heard the door open and Troy called out for her, "I'm in the kitchen." Troy entered the room shortly after holding two bags._

_"__So I got dinner," he said, handing her the bigger of two bags which she placed on the counter behind her, "and a little something for dessert."_

___He handed her the smaller bag which she quickly opened pulling out a DVD._

_"__You found me another copy?" she asked, looking up from the movie she held in her hands to Troy._

_"__Yeah, you weren't kidding when you said it was not easy to find. I think I checked five stores until I finally found it in the bottom of a bin."_

_"__You didn't have to do that, I could have gone and looked myself," she said, already pulling the plastic cover off._

___He shrugged, "I know, but I wanted to. So how about I get dinner ready and you go pop that it and we'll watch it while we eat?"_

___She smiled, reaching up to kiss his cheek in thanks._

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" he asked, kissing the side of her head.

"Yes you have and I love you too. I know today sucked, but I hope this makes it a little better." She leaned up to kiss him once again and he smiled.

"Not just a little, this turned my whole day around."

**A/N: Sorry for the time in between posts. I just got back from my trip a few hours ago. I'm a little tired but I didn't want to make you guys wait anymore. Let me know what you all thought of this chapter. I love hearing your feedback! :)**


	8. She Wowed A Crowd

_****_

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I've been pretty busy with end of summer stuff but here is chapter 8. Enjoy!

**Chapter Eight**  
**She Wowed a Crowd**

Troy entered his and Gabriella's bedroom on a Saturday afternoon; at least it used to be the bedroom, with the amount of clothes everywhere it could easily be mistaken for a closet.

"Babe," he called hesitantly, just as a skirt came flying towards his head out of the closet.

Gabriella popped her head and out and smiled, "hey, what's up?" she asked before disappearing back behind the doors.

"Um, nothing much, I guess that tornado that went through here missed the living room huh?"

"What?" she asked, her head reappearing.

Troy held up one of her dresses that had been hanging off the lamp on his bedside table, "you're lucky this lamp wasn't turned on or this dress would have been really hot." He joked, tossing the garment on the ever-growing pile on the bed

"Oh sorry about that, I'm just trying to find something to wear tonight."

Troy rolled his eyes, "it's just a work party babe, there is no one there to impress, and everyone there already loves you."

Gabriella shook her head, "no, there is going to be prospective clients there and if I show up and look frumpy that will make you and the company look bad."

Troy couldn't help but laugh, "okay first, you could NEVER look frumpy; even if you tried, you would still be the most beautiful girl in the world and two, these clients are basically in the bag, this party is to welcome them, there is no way you could chase them away."

_"_Still I need to look my best and I have nothing to wear," she seemed to ponder that thought for a moment before turning to Troy, "Baby, would you mind if I went shopping?" she asked, putting on her best pout and puppy dog eyes.

Troy couldn't help but groan, "El, you have tons of clothes. You don't need to go shopping." He looked at the clothes around the room and picked up a black dress, "here, wear this one, I like this one."

Gabriella scrunched up her nose and Troy couldn't help but chuckle, "okay, how about that blue one over there, or the brown one on the chair."

"Troy, these are all dresses I wear to work. I need a sexy flirty party dress, therefore I need to go shopping and maybe get my hair and nails done too." She looked at the digital clock on the nightstand. "and I have just about enough time to do that all."

Without another word Gabriella grabbed her purse and walked out the door, "I'll be back by 7 babe."

As the door closing sounded through the apartment Troy turned back to the room which was still littered with Gabriella's clothing.

"You are so lucky I love you Gabriella Montez," he said to himself as he began to pick up the clothes.

* * *

A few hours later Troy found himself pacing the entry way of the apartment, his dress shoes squeaking lightly against the wood floor. He had just talked to Gabriella on the phone a few minutes prior and she said she was turning into their complex and would be back shortly. Almost if as on cue, the door opened and Gabriella entered their home, a garment bag clutched in her left hand and her keys in her right.

Her normally curly hair was completely straight, some of it pulled up so that it didn't fall into her face. Her bright brown eyes were heavily lined with a light bronze color covering her lids and a shimmery pink gloss adorned her lips.

"Wow you look…" Troy started but Gabriella held her finger up to his lips to silence him.

"Save that until you see my dress." Gabriella tossed her keys on a small table and made her way back into the bedroom and Troy couldn't help but check her out from behind.

Moments later she reappeared in the entryway, twirling to show off her new dress.

It was a beautiful black dress that fell just above her knees with a flirty skirt, the bodice was sequined and dipped into a v the front and scooped in the back. He followed the dress with his eyes running down her long legs and ended with her favorite black pumps.

"Well?" she asked, twirling once again "was it worth the wait?"

Troy could only nod, unable to form a complete sentence; he took a step closer to her, reaching out to pull her close to him before their lips finally met in a sweet kiss.

"Worth the wait and more baby, I almost don't want to share you, you look so gorgeous."

Gabriella laughed and pulled his hand towards the door, "nah, you want to show me off you know you do."

"I always do, I like showing everyone that I'm the luckiest guy on the face of the earth," he grabbed his keys, allowing Gabriella to pull him out the door, locking the door behind them. He laced their hands and brought them up to his lips to kiss the back of hers, making her smile.

"Keep that up and you may get even luckier."

* * *

The party was taking place in a restaurant downtown. One entire wall was made entirely out of windows overlooking the city below. It had a very modern design, but the warm lighting made it feel homey.

Troy led Gabriella into the room, his hand on the small of her back as they looked around.

"Wow, you guys certainly upgraded from the last party, where was it again? A bowling alley?"

Troy laughed, "That wasn't a party exactly, it was more of a celebration. Besides we need to impress our clients. Speaking of which, I need to go find Robert and ask him something really quick, you wanna go get a drink and I'll catch up with you in a minute?"

Gabriella smiled and nodded; he leaned down to kiss her cheek and made his way off in the crowd.

Gabriella looked around the room, she smiled at the people she recognized and made her way over to the bar. She was used to this, especially since Troy got promoted. They would go these parties, and while she would have a good time and got to spend a lot of time with Troy, this was still work and he spent a good portion of the night chatting up clients or conversing with co-workers while she stood by his side, but she wanted to support Troy, and if that meant being the silent supportive girlfriend for the night she would do it.

"What can I get for you?" the bartender asked as she approached the bar.

"Apple martini please," a little bit of alcohol didn't hurt either to make the night a little more fun for her.

The bartender handed her the drink and she took a sip, relishing the feeling of the liquid sliding down her throat. She was about to take another drink when she felt someone gently touch her arm.

"About time, I was starting to," she turned, but instead of finding Troy she was face to face with a man and woman both about in their sixties. "Um, hello," she said trying to be polite.

"Oh no dear you don't know us," the woman said, "we just saw you walk in and notice you came in with Mr. Bolton and we just wanted to tell you what an incredible young man he is."

Gabriella smiled, but was still confused as to who these people were, "oh I'm sorry dear, we're Mr. and Mrs. Charles Anderson."

"Oh," Gabriella said recognizing the name immediately, "you're the new clients, it's so nice to meet you, Troy talks about you all the time."

The man chuckled, "he's quite a bright young man that one, we were planning on signing with a different company but Troy convinced us otherwise with his business pitch, I need more people like that on my staff."

Gabriella couldn't help but beam with pride, "yeah, he's great and he loves his job, so I think that makes a lot of difference. He's really excited to work with you; he has some really great ideas."

"Well I can't wait to hear them, if their anything like the pitch he gave us your husband is about to have many doors open up for him."

Gabriella had stopped listening at the word husband, but before she could correct his error another voice broke into the conversation, "Charles, Rebecca, I see you have met Gabriella."

Gabriella turned to see one of Troy's coworkers, Carter, along with his wife Jane.

"Oh yes, we were just telling her how great Troy is. Let's hear more about you though Gabriella, I feel like we know Troy so well. He's mentioned you quite a few times; he told us a story about your car running out of gas, did that really happen?"

Gabriella couldn't help but start to laugh, "he did not tell you that story. He thinks it's a hilarious but he always tells it wrong, I will tell it right and you will see I am in the victim in this."

* * *

"Alright Robert, I'll have those to you by Tuesday," Troy said.

Robert nodded and shook his hand, "sounds good Bolton, now we better go and be social, since that is what this party is supposed to be for. Did you bring Gabriella with you?" he asked, looking around the room.

"Um yeah, I told her to wait by the bar for me but the conversation took a little longer then I expected, I better go find her so she doesn't think I left, i'll see you around."

He made his way into the main part of the restaurant, but couldn't see her, maybe she was still waiting at the bar. As he made his way over there he couldn't help but notice that a small crowd had formed.

He approached the group, just as they all began to laugh and positioned himself so he could see what was going on. He couldn't help the smile that came across his face. There was Gabriella towards the middle of the group, her hands animatedly moving around her face as she spoke.

"So anyways, we start approaching a rapid, and I'll be totally honest I was starting to panic a little. We hit the first part everything is fine, then the boat turns a little, we hit the second part a little rougher and I feel Troy fall off, no big deal it happens,"

Troy immediately recognized the story Gabriella was telling and jumped in, "hey Ella, no one wants to hear that story."

"Oh come on Troy, we all know it, except for Mr. and Mrs. Anderson and they asked to hear it," one of his coworkers said.

"Yeah after you told the story about me running out of gas, Charles suggested I tell one of your most embarrassing stories so we were evened out and Mike suggested this one."

"Thanks Mike, remind me not to invite you on anymore trips okay," Troy said, putting his arm around Gabriella.

"Go on sweetheart, finish the story," Rebecca said, winking at her.

"Where was I, oh yeah, so Troy fell off and he just rides the rest of the way down in the water while we paddle through. We get to the end but Troy doesn't get back in the boat. Mike and Jake try to help him but he says he's fine and is just enjoying the water, but its freezing cold so I knew he was lying. Turns out the rapids had sucked off his swimming trunks and all he had on was his lifejacket." The crowd laughed and Troy turned a little red, "luckily I saw them floating down the river a little and he was able to get them and get back in the boat."

"Oh what I wouldn't have given to see that," Rebecca said, causing everyone to laugh and Troy to turn a brighter shade of red.

"Rebecca," Charles admonished, unable to hide his laughter.

"Thanks El," Troy said leaning down to whisper in her ear.

Gabriella turned to look at him to see if he was mad or not, although his face was still slightly red, she could see the shining in his eyes and leaned up to kiss him.

The crowd began to dissipate, leaving Troy and Gabriella standing with Charles and Rebecca.

"I have to go to the restroom, will you excuse me," Gabriella said, leaving the three and heading off.

"She's lovely," Rebecca gushed, "I just adore her."

"You're a lucky man Troy, girls like that don't come around very often. Hold onto her and treat her right," he stuck his hand out to shake Troy's.

"I will sir, I promise."

"Oh Rebecca we better get going," he said to his wife as he looked at his watch, "Our grandson Parker has a soccer game tomorrow morning and we promised we'd be there. Tell your charming wife good bye for us and that we'll see her again hopefully."

Rebecca nodded, and looped her arm through her husbands, "goodnight Troy," she called as the two made their way towards the exit.

Troy couldn't help but smile at the two, they were still so much in love and he couldn't help but hope that would be him and Gabriella one day.

_"__Oh Troy look how cute they are," Troy looked over to where Gabriella was pointing and he saw an older gentlemen, probably in his late seventies, helping his wife out of the car._

___Troy smiled and opened Gabriella's door making her laugh, "aw, look at you being all chivalrous." She said, sliding into the car, Troy closing the door behind her. As he took his place in the driver's seat he noticed her still watching the old couple, as they slowly walked towards the front door of the store that Troy and Gabriella had exited moments ago._

_"__What are you thinking about?" he asked, taking her hand into his._

_"__I just hope I have that one day you know?" she turned to face him and smile a little, "be that little old couple that walk into a room and people just stop for a moment to look because they are both still so much in love. That's a fairytale to me."_

___Troy brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it._

"Hey dreamy," Troy heard, as Gabriella gently squeezed his arm, "where are Charles and Rebecca?" she asked.

"They had to go, but they wanted me to tell you goodbye. They absolutely adore you; in fact, I think pretty much everyone in this room adores you tonight."

She shrugged, "I tend to have that affect, I'm a pretty likeable person."

Troy laughed at her statement, "and not at all cocky or arrogant."

Gabriella shook her head and kissed him quickly, "not one bit. Come on, lets go mingle and I can continue to dazzle your coworkers."

The two walked towards the group of people, but something that Charles had said continued to ring in Troy's mind.

___your charming wife_

**_A/N: Almost to the end, only two chapters left. I have really loved writing this and your response so far, it's awesome, so thanks. Let me know what you thought of chapter eight. I have summaries for two stories in my profile ao go check those out and then I also have a poll as to which story you would be more interested in reading. I will probably end up writing both of them, but I want to know which sounds more interesting to you. Also check out the banners I made and let me know what you think. Thanks for reading, until next time. :) _**


End file.
